bazach

In addition Swoopa, there are less horses being bred - the days of the local 'cow cocky' having a broodmare or two have all-but finished, I believe foals being bred are now around 4,000, and the wider Asian market is buying plenty, so supply and demand are working well. Maybe some ex mare owners will be encouraged back, as long as studs don't see this (so far) short term increase as a way to crank up stud fees.

When you go through catalogues and see how many foals mares have, how many winners, and then how many stakes winners, you would have to ask yourself "why breed from my own mare?" - at least to race. In my opinion, most stud fees are too high. I guess they are market driven, and if Asia keep buying, then all is good. It would be interesting to have some statistical analysis done (maybe it has already) based on the number of foals born each  year in NZ, and how many would pay their way using average rearing and training fees over a 3-4 year period of racing. I  guess this would be difficult to assess because of the number heading off shore. But my observations tell me it would less than 3% or 4% who stay in NZ.
Getting back to the thread, unless your mare is a K1 mare, why would you even want to pay 5k for most stallions, when you don't know how crooked the foal's legs will be, and what other issues it may have. 

Forgot about this fella! - Umteen; half brother by Alcimedes to champion sire Sobig (Summertime). He was a poor racehorse and - a poorer sire. I had one by him - couldn't keep up with our dog! Sad really, because with that pedigree you would have thought a few good ones would have emerged.

Jess I am thoroughly disillusioned by the RIU. On some issues they show all the zeal of a lapsed vegetarian attacking a well done steak but on other issues they seem to turn a blind eye.

True Huey. My comment is more generic - aimed at all studs. I wish the connections of Per Incanto all the best.

25 winners from 73 runners isn't a great record for Per Incanto. As usual, the hype and bullshit that emanates from a stud farm when 1 or 2 of the 100+ mares served produces a good horse -  meant that Per Incanto was able to serve about 150 mares last season.

Shifnal sired the very good winners, Shifnal Chief, and Shifnal Prince, who went to stud for fun rather than profit. Andretti too?
Cyrus was not here for long but sired Apollo Eleven, Cyron (top miler in Australia and at stud here later, without creating wave) and Fort Street, who placed in an Auckland Cup. Apart from those 2 performers at 2 miles, Cyretta won a lower grade race at 2 miles. Jiggs Alarm sired Black Frost, who was a good bet on heavy tracks. Trying to think of another mudder by Sedgewick but it might have been just Alwick.
Desert Sun sired Desert Lad(?), who won 10 or more races and another very good mare, who won in Australia - besides Sunline. Trictrac sired Seven Forty Seven, who won 3 Taranaki Cups. Probably one of the most successful racehorses or sires owned by Nelson Bunker Hunt.
As most of the sires mentioned here on these posts are from the 1970s to 1980s, perhaps we could list some of the most disappointing sires, based on their race record. I offer Roi Lear, champion 3 y.o. colt in France as one. Also, Pevero was expected to do well, as touted by Glyn Tucker as the type of stallion that N.Z. needed, but didn't perform here. Roi Lear had a Timeform rating of 128 and Pevero was 123. Somewhere I have a list of high ratings of stallions that came here, before the time of shuttle stallions when the 'best' were more readily available.
When you read an old Stallions Register, you could say that more than 90% appear as disappointing. Premiership lists usually run to just the top twenty and anything else seems to be quickly forgotten.

What a great publication this has turned into.
The last few weeks have been getting better and better, with this weeks copy being as good as you could ever expect.
There is article after article of either feature race analyses or breeding stories, one after the other, plus many other things. 

Hey Baz, I didn't think you were quite on the pension yet (haha!). Seriously, he (Winnie) certainly did more than all other Racing Ministers in living memory, especially over ensuring the tax rate for racing was aligned to other gambling forms. Not sure where the big financial 'shot in the arm went' as stakes at 7k still aren't enough to keep the wolves from the door. Athough he isn't in the same outrageous league as Donald Trump, having read about why more people are voting for Trump than anyone else - ie they are sick of the establishment doing nothing other than lining their own pockets - it's not hard to see a comparison between Trump and why people vote for NZ First. Methinks that NZ First will clearly be a bigger player in the next election than the last, ie likely hold the balance of power.

Nice crowd in and Winston Peters in attendance. Plenty of pensioners to grab a few more votes from. 

This family goes back to the 'blue hen' mare Malva, and what an amazing mare she was. Only 15 hands high, but the dam of derby winners Blenheim and King Salmon, and also of His Grace.
Blenheim of course is the sire of Mumtaz Begum, the dam of Nasrullah.
Breeders in New Zealand will also be familiar with this family, as Malva is the 3rd dam of champion sire Summertime, the fourth dam of NZ half brother sires Crest of the Wave and Palm Beach, and now the 9th dam of both Jakkalberry and Power.
This family has been extremely successful 'down under' and it would be no surprize if both Jakkalberry and Power continued this success with this great thoroughbred line.

This family goes back to the 'blue hen' mare Malva, and what an amazing mare she was. Only 15 hands high, but the dam of derby winners Blenheim and King Salmon, and also of His Grace.
Blenheim of course is the sire of Mumtaz Begum, the dam of Nasrullah.
Breeders in New Zealand will also be familiar with this family, as Malva is the 3rd dam of champion sire Summertime, the fourth dam of NZ half brother sires Crest of the Wave and Palm Beach, and now the 9th dam of both Jakkalberry and Power.
This family has been extremely successful 'down under' and it would be no surprize if both Jakkalberry and Power continued this success with this great thoroughbred line.

This family goes back to the 'blue hen' mare Malva, and what an amazing mare she was. Only 15 hands high, but the dam of derby winners Blenheim and King Salmon, and also of His Grace.
Blenheim of course is the sire of Mumtaz Begum, the dam of Nasrullah.
Breeders in New Zealand will also be familiar with this family, as Malva is the 3rd dam of champion sire Summertime, the fourth dam of NZ half brother sires Crest of the Wave and Palm Beach, and now the 9th dam of both Jakkalberry and Power.
This family has been extremely successful 'down under' and it would be no surprize if both Jakkalberry and Power continued this success with this great thoroughbred line.

"Oh ta ki" is the correct pronunciation. The 'a' in Maori is pronounced 'ar'. Likewise, the 'e' is pronounced 'ay', the 'i' is pronounced 'e', and the 'u' is pronounced 'oo'. This pronunciation of the vowels is the same as Italian. Interestingly, all Maori and Italian words also end in a vowel.

"Oh ta ki" is the correct pronunciation. The 'a' in Maori is pronounced 'ar'. Likewise, the 'e' is pronounced 'ay', the 'i' is pronounced 'e', and the 'u' is pronounced 'oo'. This pronunciation of the vowels is the same as Italian. Interestingly, all Maori and Italian words also end in a vowel.

"Oh ta ki" is the correct pronunciation. The 'a' in Maori is pronounced 'ar'. Likewise, the 'e' is pronounced 'ay', the 'i' is pronounced 'e', and the 'u' is pronounced 'oo'. This pronunciation of the vowels is the same as Italian. Interestingly, all Maori and Italian words also end in a vowel.

I was talking to a fellow 'Naki man about this sire the other day. I would like some info on whether it is possible to go anywhere on the 'net' to find out about stallions of years gone by. It doesn't seem like it, as I have 'googled' Roland and nothing comes up. The current on-line studbook doesn't give a lot of info except he left 8 broodmare daughters all born in 1969 and 1970, so clearly his stud 'career' was short.
From memory he stood at Ngaere at Mount View Stud alongside My Pal and Bucentaur - I believe the stud was owned by a (Peter?) Cooper, who I think died quite young. Roland himself was very well bred being by Oman (who descends through his dam to Frizette) out of Citril, making him a full brother to the dam of Thnk Big. Also from memory, - I think he was an unbeaten racehorse having four starts as a two year old for four wins, and didn't race again - no doubt cafers will correct me on any of this if I am wrong. I would be interested to know why it seems he only did a couple of years at stud - ie died young, didn't get any mares etc etc. Of his horses to race, the very versatile mare Ngaere Dawn, and good two and three year old Kija (died at three) were, from my memory, his best horses.

Hopefully will encourage more people to go back to breeding stayers and giving their horses more time to mature. Okay, it is expensive waiting, AND people don't seem to have the patience they did have, but if we want to go back to having horses be competitive in races like the Melbourne Cup, then its a good thing taking the Wellington Cup back to 3200 metres.

Hopefully will encourage more people to go back to breeding stayers and giving their horses more time to mature. Okay, it is expensive waiting, AND people don't seem to have the patience they did have, but if we want to go back to having horses be competitive in races like the Melbourne Cup, then its a good thing taking the Wellington Cup back to 3200 metres.

Hopefully will encourage more people to go back to breeding stayers and giving their horses more time to mature. Okay, it is expensive waiting, AND people don't seem to have the patience they did have, but if we want to go back to having horses be competitive in races like the Melbourne Cup, then its a good thing taking the Wellington Cup back to 3200 metres.

And by dropping the distance back to 2400m it lost it's uniqueness. 2400m races in NZ are a dime a dozen and the fields didn't become significantly stronger either as result.
The major strength of the Wellington Cup and the reason it had become such an iconic race was that from 1942 until 2009 it was run over 2 miles/3200m and won by some wonderful stayers.  Great Sensations three consecutive wins in the early 60s through to Castletown's three cups in the 90s are legendary and an extremely strong following of the Wellington Cup because it was run over 3200m ensued thereby creating the tradition of relating the Cup to the ultimate flat distance. 
Starting way up the chute with the long run to the winning post the first time is a great spectacle and the roar of the crowd as they get there with a round to go is quite stirring further adding to the hype and atmosphere.
There was major disappointment by the public when the race was dropped back in distance and since 2009 very strong calls to step it back up to 3200m. I am one of those people. I would have loved to be able to go to Trentham this Saturday to celebrate the return to 3200m but will have to watch on TV instead. I will look forward to seeing the starting gates for this race returning way up the chute and even from my lounge will give a hearty cheer as they reach the post the first time. It's hard to beat tradition and uniqueness.       
 

This has been a very interesting thread to read Tom and Ted. Re the lack of crowds at Auckland. There will be many reasons, some of which bestbets has alluded to. Another one is the complete chaos trying to get from A to B in this 'world class'(!) city. If I was bestbets I would be staying on my sofa too!. We spend a bit of time in Melbourne - went to Caulfield on boxing day, and the comparison between Auckland and Melbourne could not be better shown between the public transport available (or not in Auckland's case).